Credits

Plot Information for Dhemlan, Kaeleer

Dhemlan has become a land divided. The corruption that Witch’s Purge wiped out in the rest of the Realms was preserved by the well-meaning sacrifice of the territory’s Ebon Gray Queen. As such, the corruption here has only intensified. The tension between the Landen and the Blood who were meant to care for them is fast reaching a boiling point.

Goryo walked away from the carriage with purpose in his stride. It wasn't raining, but the air was thick and the clouds overhead moved swiftly. If it didn't open up before the night was through, he'd be surprised. Didn't matter, though. Some things had to happen regardless of things like weather, or time of day. Things like destiny. Like restitution. Like settling the score.

He was angry, still, and he knew it. While he walked, he tried to calm himself down. He told himself that beating the shit out of one of his brothers wouldn't make him feel any better, but he knew it was mostly a lie. Still, he argued with himself about it, all the way from the cab up to the doorway that served as his destination. Every sensible person in the District was fast asleep, especially here, among the Landen. The Blood might be able to party all night and sleep away their mornings, but Aluar's children had work to do. Even their celebrations - tame when compared to the shenanigans of the Blood, but beloved and vital all the same - often wrapped up early enough that a farmer or seamstress could get a few hours' worth of shut-eye before dawn.

Goryo was awake, though. And soon, Ricardo and anyone else in his household would be awake as well.

His knock on Ricardo's door was confident and intentional. It wasn't noisy for the sake of being noisy, but neither did he have time to spare tryin' to whisper the son of a bitch awake, either. He knocked four times, his heavy fist rattling the door, and then waited. He felt the urge to light a cigarette, but he refrained from doing so.

Ricardo wasn’t normally awake this late, but ever since he took over administering the Plaza de Toros, he’d been working late nights to keep his head above the water. When he’d arrived months ago, there was a lot of information to wrap his head around, names and faces to memorize, and all the primadonnas and their various demands and desires. A few of them tried to work him in those first days, but Ricardo shut that down swiftly and firmly. Since then, he didn’t get bothered much with the little stuff.

But the Blood were a problem in every Province.

He’d been meaning to set up a meeting with Lady Elena Barbero, but damn if she wasn’t hard to reach. Ricardo got the distinct in pression that the Steward of the Province Queen wasn’t delivering his messages. He wanted to discuss the spring festivals and make sure than any misunderstandings about the Plaza were cleared up beforehand. He wasn’t going to be rushing around like a chicken with his head cut off, jumping through hoops to get things done.

If he didn’t receive a response by tomorrow, he’d go to the palace unannounced the following day and make her deal with him.

All told, it was late by the time Ricardo got home and sat down to run the numbers about the Plaza’s finances. Yes, they were in the black. No, it did not comfort him enough to check less. After the garbage down in Pirenza, Ricardo was even more fanatical about keeping the Plaza on the straight and narrow. He missed the food, though. Maybe it was time to open a restaurant up here and get some good southern cooking rattling around in people’s minds.

The knock on the door stopped him.

Ricardo looked at the time. It was late. No one came to his house this late. He didn’t like where this was going.

He really, really hoped that the Blood had not chosen this night to respond to his requests for a meeting with Lady Barbero. He sighed, closed the ledger, and rubbed his hands over his face. He got up and went to the door, oddly aware just now how empty this house was.

Goryo didn't move when Ricardo opened the door. Just his eyes, which quickly assessed how dressed the other man was or wasn't. He then shook his head, declining Ricardo's invitation to come inside.

"Get your coat," he said flatly, instead. He nodded his head back towards the carriage waiting at the end of the walk and added, "Got some work I want you to help with."

While Ricardo complied (because of course he would), Goryo went back to the carriage and got in, waiting there for the other man to join him. Once Ricardo was in place, Goryo leaned up enough to reach a hand out of the window, and hit the side of the carriage twice to signal the horseman to start moving. He really wanted a cigarette, but also knew he'd just crush it, with his temper like it was.

"You're takin' over Capital," he said, without preamble, his dark and angry eyes focused intently on Ricardo. Ricardo wasn't the source of his ire, but it'd be damned hard to tell as much, as surly as the older man seemed. "I'm done fuckin' around with this asshole. He's stepped outta line one too many times, and we're gonna remind him tonight why you don't fuck with the family. You got the balls for this? Cause if you don't, tell me right now and go back to bed. But you don't get shit in this life without takin' it, brother. I need to know you can step up when it's needed."

This is a brotherhood, Ric. A family. Whenever you get something, you’re expected to give back.

Goryo didn’t enter the house, marking Ricardo’s first clue that something was up. Ricardo was dressed for a night in the office more than anything else. Goryo declined the invite to come inside. If the man wasn’t coming inside, it probably meant that he was leaving. Goryo didn’t talk a lot. If he came to visit you, it meant that he was either happy with your work...or that he wasn’t.

Either way, Ricardo knew that he wouldn’t spend the rest of tonight doing math.

Ricardo grabbed his coat out of sheer reflex. Goryo called for his help, meaning the time had finally come for him to do a bit more giving back to the Syndicate. Oh, he gave back to his fellow Landen. He made sure to keep the books straight. But the Syndicate didn’t run solely on bank balances and good works. Ricardo stepped out the door, sliding on his coat.

“I’m in, Goryo. I’m ready. Like you said, you don’t fuck with the family. When you get something, you give back. Just a damned shame when people forget where they come from.” Ricardo said. He realized, just then, that he’d forgotten his gold ring at home. He could have left home without his coat and it would have been fine. But leaving without his ring made him feel naked.

Better this way, you can get it when you get home.

“What’s the plan? Are we the only ones on this?” he asked. Ever the numbers guy, Ricardo was calculating the odds of just the two of them versus any number of opponents.

"It is that, brother," Goryo agreed as he sat back, mollified just slightly by Ricardo's whole-hearted agreement. He shook his head, and cast his dark gaze out through the carriage window. "A damn shame," he repeated, more quietly. Whatever he was thinking about in the brief silence that followed was interrupted by Ricardo's question. Goryo returned his attention to the other man, and nodded.

"Just you an' me," he said, in that unhurried, basso drawl. "He'll have his usual guys with him, but they're not expecting trouble. At least," he paused, and his mouth sidled into a lopsided smile. "They won't be until we knock on their door." He shook his head and returned his attention to the window.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Even if they're loyal to Gabe, they understand the order of things. You can't fuck around indefinitely. If any of them are smart enough to be a threat, they'll have seen this coming for a while, now, and are just waitin' for things to be set right."

Goryo looked back to Ricardo, and narrowed his eyes curiously, as though it pained him to devote a moment to trying to recall something he couldn't quite reach.

"Where are your people, Ricardo? I can't recall Dominguezes in Sitges." By "people" he meant family, of course. He'd never asked, but it'd never occurred to him that the man before him had no family to speak of.

Ricardo nodded as Goryo explained the situation. He knew Gabe’s normal guys. They were bruisers, but Ric knew a lot of tougher guys in the area that didn’t work for the organization. Gabe’s guys also knew where their bread was buttered, so to speak. Ric knew that a few of them had their own skim and their own projects that they worked on, thinking that no one noticed. If they could save their skins and keep their own shit going while someone else got caught up, they’d take the chance without blinking. Gabe had messed up a lot of stuff.

Like Goryo said: Anyone smart enough to be a problem was just waiting for the hammer to drop.

The slower ones would follow.

Goryo asked him about his people, surprising him for a moment. Ricardo was so busy most days and nights that he didn’t have time to dwell on his family. He’d inherited his work ethic from his old man, so it was second-nature to drive away bad thoughts with more work. And when he didn’t have more work, he made more work. Now and again, though, he visited the old man’s grave to chat, or just to clear his head. But Goryo asked about it, so Ric answered. Everyone had a sad story. It was just how the world worked.

“I’m the last one left. My mother died the same year that whole Purge thing happened with the Blood. My old man passed on a little over twenty years ago. Well, that’s when he died. He’d been a shell of himself for a lot longer than that, due to the Blood ruining his farm.” Ric said, taking a deep breath.

I'm the last one left, the other man said, and Goryo didn't even try to hide how bizarre that sounded to him.

"What? Why?" he responded, as though it made no sense to him. He listened as Ricardo explained how his parents had passed, but in Goryo's mind that didn't explain why he didn't have a bevy of siblings and kids. But given a moment to think on it, he supposed it made sense if his parents weren't into having a big family, Ricardo may just not know what he was missing. The big man studied Ricardo in silence for a beat, then shook his head.

"You'd better get on that then, brother. Get you a girl and start makin' some babies. If you'da done that when your old man passed, you'd at least have some grown sons around you now. You got time, though. Plenty of time, still." He looked out of the window, a smirk on his face while he shook his head. "Man I dunno what I'd do without my people," he said, before looking back to Ricardo. He was easy here, one of his rare smiles on his face despite the fact that they seemed to be en route to committing some unpleasant act involving one of his fellow captains. "I mean I'm all for working hard. But what are you workin' hard for if you're not makin' a future for your family? I love the Gente as much as anyone does, but..." he shrugged his big shoulders, winced as he tried and failed for a moment to find the word he wanted. "I dunno. It just means more, still, when it's your own blood on the line. You'll see. You'll come 'round and meet the fam," he said, as much a declaration as it was an invitation. "You spend a dinner 'round my house, and you'll come lookin' for a nice girl," he said, smirking again as he predicted the future.

He shifted, sitting up and then back again, as though he was uncomfortable just sitting there rather than being up and mobile.

"I mean, otherwise, what are we doin', eh? What's it all for? Business? Bah." He shook his head. "Family's where it's at, man." He paused for a moment and then winced again, as though he couldn't quite believe Ricardo had no family to speak of. "Your old man didn't have any brothers, even?"

Ric laughed, mostly because Goryo was right. He’d spent most of his life so far being pissed off at the Blood and it had stunted the other areas of his life. He shook his head at Goryo’s follow-up about his old man having any brothers. “No, he didn’t.” He’d always envied the larger families among the Landen, the ones that had birthday parties that spanned a whole neighborhood. Or seasonal celebrations that lasted for days at a time.

“Yeah, you’re right. I got caught up in making money, but haven’t found the right lady yet. But I’m optimistic, you know? She’ll come along when I’m least expecting it.” Ric said.

“Dinner sounds like a good idea. You tell me what to bring and we’ll make a night of it.” he said.

Ricardo imagined going to a big family dinner like the one Goryo described, just for a moment. A night where they didn’t have to go and punch out anyone like they were headed to do right now. Sangria flowing like water, some empanadas and a lot of The money was great, but he’d still hadn’t tried to get his father’s land back. He’d helped Lito open his restaurant and helped a lot of people get better with their money. But what was he getting out of it at the end of the day.

“Yeah, when we’re done with all this, let’s have a good time. You sure your family will be good with some new guy coming around to dinner?” he asked.

"The right lady?" Goryo parroted, with a smirk. "They all got the right parts, brother. Nothin' says you gotta bind yourself to one woman just to get some offspring started. Plenty of good, would-be mothers in the Gente. No reason you can't get some started while you're out there looking for Mrs. Right, eh?" Goryo leaned back in the bench seat and spread his arms along the back of the seat on both sides.

"Man you haven't lived 'til you've seen your baby grow in the belly of a beautiful woman. I still remember holding my first son when he was born," he said, with a shake of his head and a proud grin. "He's a man grown, now, with a family of his own. A whole line of Zamoras that will carry on the name for millennia. Just from one kid. He's got eleven siblings, and more on the way. You ever doubt why I take this shit so seriously, just remember that I got alotta mouths to feed, alotta futures to plan for. We gotta do somethin' about this Blood situation if any of us are gonna have a real chance for greatness in this world. And the only ones in a position to do anything about it is the Council."

He sighed, shook his head again.

"Which is why it's so damn frustrating when one of the family starts gettin' so caught up in kissin' Blood ass that they forget their obligations. They forget their responsibilities. We do business with the Blood because for the moment, we have to. But they don't own us. And we don't owe them anything. You with me on this? Cause mixin' that line up is why Gabe is about to have a bad night. Mixin' that line up is why Gabe's boys are gonna step aside and let us handle business tonight. You don't ever wanna get so lost in your own shit that you lose sight of your people, Ricardo."

Ricardo asked if Goryo was sure his family would be kosher with a stranger coming to dinner.

"Soon as you show up, you stop bein' the new guy," he said, with a smirk. "It won't be an issue."

The more Goryo chatted, the easier it was for him to step away from the anger that'd held him when he'd first shown up at Ricardo's door. Eventually, the driver slowed, and Goryo and Ricardo's carriage came to a rest outside of the estate of the current head of Dhemlan's Capital syndicate.

"You ready?" Goryo asked, giving Ricardo one final chance to back out from the coming violence.

Ricardo grinned at Goryo’s mention of the right parts. Goryo had a point. He was still young, as things went. Ricardo had never really spoken to anyone about how difficult it was being alone on the holidays or just at random points throughout the year. Ricardo had spent decades putting work above everything else. Listening to Goryo talk about family and watching his children grow up made the other man think about what he’d really let slip away by letting his work-life balance get so upside down.

"Man, you've got me looking forward to meeting the family already."

Another damned shame: when a man can balance his bank accounts, but not his personal life.

Goryo kept speaking truth. The Landen owed the Blood nothing at all. The Blood failed in their responsibilities to the Landen ages ago. “You’re right, man. The Blood don’t own us. They look down their noses at us like we’re something on their shoes, but they know what’s real, deep down.” Ricardo said.

While Goryo’s anger was dulling, Ricardo’s anger was ramping up. Gabe fucked him over to get ahead. If Goryo wasn’t on top of shit the way that he always was, Ricardo might be the guy getting this late-night visit instead. Thinking about it pissed him off. By the time the carriage slowed down, Ricardo was ready to put hands on anyone who even looked sideways at him and Goryo. When he was running Capital, shit was going to change and change fast.

There were guards at Reyes' Tarragona estate, and the trio of them that patrolled the front gate looked none too pleased to see a carriage roll up unexpectedly at a wholly impolite hour of the night (morning? It was getting to that in-between time). When the carriage door opened and Gregorio stepped out, the quiet hostility in the men was traded out for surprise and concern. Goryo gestured for Ricardo to wait at the carriage for a minute, and he walked over and spoke in hushed tones to the senior man present. The conversation looked grim, but ended with the guard nodding as he spoke, and Goryo squeezing his shoulder fondly as he began to pull away. One of the three guards started in a brisk pace towards the house, and Goryo turned to wave Ricardo over. He then started towards the front door himself, once Ricardo had reached his side.

The estate was an impressive one, having belonged to a Blood family once, a long time ago. Many of the syndicate captains had such opulent residences, part and parcel of their esteemed positions. Goryo had opted for several smaller houses to make his family situation an easier thing to handle, but he didn't begrudge the other fellows making a show of their stature. There had to be something to make a man feel like he'd accomplished some work, he thought. His was his family. If the other guys got more kicks out of having to hire landscapers and a waitstaff, more power to 'em.

But the trade-off for all that prosperity, in Goryo's mind, was that a man stayed loyal to the family. What was best for the family was what the man went after, and as the family prospered, so too would he. In a way, the family giveth, and the family taketh away.

The pair of men passed a few more guards inside the house. They all paused in their rounds and watched with stone-faced silence, as though witnessing a funeral procession rather than a strangely-timed visit. Goryo didn't say a word while he led the way up the massive central stair case to the second level, and down the hall towards the master bedroom. He lit a cigarette as he walked, and periodically blew plumes of tobacco smoke off to one side. A final guard stood at his post outside the bedroom door, and for a moment it didn't look like he had any intention of moving when the two men approached. Goryo came to a stop immediately in front of him, but he didn't say anything. He and this man - an older man, though still in fighting form, by the look of him - held eyes for a long and tense moment in silence, as though each waited for the other to make a demand. Neither did. Eventually, the older man lowered his gaze, and Goryo lifted a hand to squeeze his shoulder in an oddly reassuring gesture. The guard stepped aside, and Goryo waited for him to leave the immediate area before he reached for the tall double doors and pulled them open.

The room was dark inside, lit now only by the trespass of the dim light from the night lanterns in the hall. It spilled in a soft pall over the floor and a massive, four-post, canopied bed. Within it, three forms lay unmoving beneath silken sheets. Reyes and two women were tangled up and sleeping, oblivious to the coming intrusion. Goryo approached the foot of the bed, held his cigarette in his mouth, and reached over to tug at the silk-clad foot of one of the women to wake her. She gasped quietly to find two strangers in the room, but Goryo didn't give her a chance to ask questions.

"Get your friend and get outta here," he told her, his voice more gentle than one might expect, though that low, baritone rumble might help explain why he had so many almost-wives at home. The woman looked like she wanted to object, but opted to comply instead. She quickly gathered her discarded dress from the floor beside the bed, then skirted around the bed to tug the other woman from sleep. They left, naked save for the dresses they held before themselves, and the shoes they clumsily gathered from the floor on the way out. Gabriel almost slept through the whole exchange, though he did finally roll over when one of the girls dropped a shoe on the way out.

"What the..." he groaned, sleepily, when he realized he wasn't alone in the room. He squinted up at his visitors, though it took him a minute to make out their faces, what with the light behind him. "Ricardo?" he realized, pushing himself to sit up. Goryo took a drag from his cigarette then, and that seemed to help Gabriel place the other man. "Goryo? What are you doing here? What the hell's this about?" By then, however, Goryo had turned away. He walked back to the doors and closed them with an ominous click, then flipped the switch that triggered the room's gas lights to flare to life. Gabriel, blinked against the sudden light, and frowned.

"I know what you did, Gabe," Goryo said, while he returned to the bedside. Rather than asking questions in return, Gabriel's face darkened.

"You gotta be kiddin' me. You think you can come in here, into my house, and--" he said, starting to ramp himself up towards anger. He didn't have a chance to finish, though. Goryo reached into the bed, grabbed the man's ankle, and in one strong pull yanked the man entirely off of the bed and onto the floor beside it. Gabriel yelped in surprise and all but growled once he hit the floor, tangled up in sheets and indignant rage.

"You've crossed the line, Zamora," he spat, trying to pull himself out of the sheets so that he could stand. "Nando! Get in here!" he shouted, though of course his guard was gone.

"Your boy's not comin', Gabe," Goryo told him, sinking down to a crouch so that he was eye level with the struggling man. "It's just us. We're gonna talk about things. You, me, and Ricardo, here." Gabriel looked up at Ricardo as though seeing him for the first time, fury burning in his sleepy eyes.

"Ricardo, how are you mixed up in this? Did he even tell you what this is about?" he demanded.

Goryo stepped out of the carriage but told him to hold his position, so Ricardo did just that. The moment Goryo exited, Ricardo released the breath he’d been holding without realizing it. His palms suddenly felt extra damp and he rubbed them on the legs of his slacks several times. It would be just his luck to embarass himself in front of Goryo by looking like he’d pissed his pants. Ricardo took several breaths to calm himself and then leaned back and gently parted one of the curtains on the carriage window to see what was going on.

Goryo talked to a few of the guys and they stood aside. Ricardo was glad for that, because he didn’t come here looking to fight his brothers over Gabe’s stupidity. Gabe was the only person that needed to pay tonight. Ricardo was fine keeping the damage contained to him and him alone.

He left the carriage when Goryo called for him and then followed the boss man inside. Inside the house, people stood aside as they headed deeper into the manse. Ricardo snuck a peek at a few of the items and baubles that Gabe had collected over his time as head of Capital. He easy estimated the value in marks for most of the contents of the house, numbering in the high hundreds of thousands. And that was just the stuff on the main floor. No wonder Gabe always came to his office for meetings. If Ricardo had seen even a few of these things, he’d have picked up on Gabe’s bullshit a lot sooner.

No one challenged them. Either the boys here knew that this night was coming...or they knew how serious it was when Goryo was making the visit personally. Either way, no one was willing to cross Gregoria Zamora for Gabriel and that was as it should be. The man at the door to (he figured) Gabe’s bedroom looked like he'd step up to trouble them. Ricardo steeled himself to act, but Goryo’s approach surprised him. Something unspoken passed between both men and then the guard stepped aside. The tension drained from Ricardo’s shoulders.

He followed Goryo into the bedroom.

He almost laughed aloud at Gabe’s end arriving on what looked to be a good evening. Goryo ordered the women to leave and Ricardo watched them, stone-faced, to make sure that they got the message and didn’t try anything. Gabe woke up just as they left and Ricardo’s attention shifted back to his boss. He remembered when he started working for Gabe, how the other man told him to stay loyal to the family and good things would come. Somewhere along the line, Gabe forgot that. Or maybe he was just a fucking hypocrite. Ricardo couldn’t summon the energy to care. He’d done wrong and now he was about to learn.

Ricardo imagined what he’d do, if he was in Gabe’s position right now. Knowing that Goryo was here made this situation dire. He’d have his ducks in a row. He’d have reason on top of reason to cover for himself, but he’d lead off by asking Goryo to clarify his statement. Stall. Deny. Deny. Deny.

Of course, Gabe went right to indignation and Ricardo winced, but recovered quickly. That ain’t gonna go over well.

It didn’t. Gabe landed on the floor in a heap. He continued the disrespect, tried to call for his guard and Ricardo just shook his head. Some people just didn’t learn.

Then Gabe looked to Ricardo and asked if he knew what was going on. He was still stalling, but now trying to curry some kind of sympathy with the least dangerous of the two men standing in front of him.

“I already know, Gabe.” Ricardo said, shutting him down before he had a chance to get going. While Ricardo knew what he’d told Goryo some time ago, he didn’t know what else the other man had uncovered since then. Either way, he offered solidarity with the Trade Captain so that Gabe wouldn’t get the idea that he could drive a wedge between them.

“Maybe you better trade the bass in your voice for some respect. Can’t hurt your chances of getting through this intact.” Ricardo said.

No, Gabriel wasn't looking for sympathy. He was looking for sanity. Logic. Reason. None of which he saw in the brute who'd yanked him from bed in the middle of the night like some two-bit criminal who hadn't paid his debts. When Ricardo said he was already informed about the matter at hand, it was anger that filled Gabriel's expression rather than despair.

"You're both out of your goddamned minds," he growled, gathering himself to stand. Goryo reached out and pushed on his shoulder just enough to unbalance him and put him back on his ass.

"Sit down, Gabe."

"Go to hell, Zamora!" Gabe barked back, all but snarling in indignant rage. "When the old man hears about this, he'll--"

"He ain't gonna hear about this," Goryo interjected, with a calm and damning confidence that finally gave Gabe pause. He wasn't afraid of a brawl (though, given the size difference between the men, he likely should have been), but something in Goryo's tone just then made him reevaluate how dire the current situation was. Surely Goryo hadn't come here intending to kill another member of the family? It was so removed from normal that the possibility hadn't even crossed Gabe's mind before now.

"Lemme tell you how this is gonna go," Goryo continued, shifting in his crouch to put his weight on his other leg. "Two options. Option one: you're gonna give Ricardo here your ring. You'll announce your retirement, and you'll take whatever little stash of money you've got squirreled away and you'll move to the countryside and live out the rest of your life in peace and style. You'll be remembered as a faithful servant of the family." This option both shocked and appalled Gabriel, who's face contorted further into anger. He began to object - vehemently, by the looks of it - but Goryo held up a finger and kept going.

"Option two: the two of us beat the piss out of you and take the ring. You'll leave outta here painted so many colors that no one in Pirenza will doubt that you lost your seat by force. You take the clothes on your back and nothing else, and disappear into nothingness. Nobody will remember you, except to spit on the name of that shady fucker who double-crossed the family and got ejected from his seat."

"Double-crossed?! I'm trying to preserve the integrity of the family! You've got some fucking nerve coming in here and talking to me like I'm the one trying to overthrow the goddamned Capitán! And I'll have you know he's already heard about it. I sent word to him yesterday about your underhanded bullshit. You lay a hand on me and he'll know you were just trying to cover your ass."

"Yeah. About that," Goryo said, with a wince. He shifted, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded letter. Ricardo didn't have to open it to recognize it; his stationary was distinctive. "You need better friends, Gabe. I mean it's convenient for me that your people have zero loyalty to you, but you probably wanna be more discerning in the future." Gabriel's expression fell, the revelation that he'd been sold out seeming to strike a deeper blow than anything Goryo had said before then. For a moment, it seemed like the fire had been bled out of him.

Until all at once, out of nowhere, he pulled his arm forward and swung a bat at Goryo's head. He'd had it under the edge of his bed, and had been subtly reaching for it for the last several moments while the other men were distracted with the conversation. Goryo hadn't seen it coming, and though he tried to bring his hands up to block it, he still got clipped with a sound THWACK that glanced off the top of his head. It upset his balance and he fell out of his crouch with a growled curse. Gabriel didn't wait for the aftermath; he shoved himself straight into the side of Ricardo's knees, hoping to topple him at least, perhaps fuck up a knee if he was lucky. In an instant he was on his feet, bat still in hand as he left the sheet behind in order to scramble towards the door that joined his bedroom with a study.

Gabe got more and more heated up, which made Ricardo nervous. Not just because there was likely violence in the offing, but because they were inside Gabe’s house, on his turf, demanding that he step down as head of Capital. Ricardo was a little surprised when Goryo said that the old man wasn’t going to hear about any of this. Ricardo had assumed that this was all blessed from above, but then...if one of the heads of the Syndicate knew about something going wrong in the ranks, wasn’t it their job to make sure that the old man didn’t need to hear about it? If the old man was handling everything for himself, there was no need for the leaders of the various branches.

Goryo laid Gabe’s options and Gabe tried to play the victim, like everyone should be thanking him for selling out the Blood. Ricardo tried to stay light on his feet because he sensed that things were getting close to coming to blows. He hadn’t been in a lot of fights in his life (the blessing and curse of being a numbers guy), but Gabe would throw the first punch. Goryo would block it like the expert he was, and then proceed to hand the man his ass in quick order. One hit and it would probably be all over. Ricardo would be lucky if he had a chance to kick dirt on the bastard before Gabe was naked, unconscious, and being ushered off into his early retirement.

Gabe looked like he knew his boat was sunk. Then he swung a bat at Goryo.

Ricardo’s entire imagined scenario went to shit in seconds.

Goryo got clipped with the bat and went down, though he wasn’t out. The world moved in slow-motion. Ricardo saw, and felt, Gabe coming at him but he couldn’t move fast enough. He tried to throw himself on top of Gabe and slow his forward movement, but Gabe had expected a fight or he’d kept on his training. Either way, Gabe’s body was crouched lower than Ricardo’s and it was the accountant who nearly missed his target altogether, going ass-over-teakettle to land hard on the bedroom floor in a heap. He banged his ankle against the nearby nightstand.

“MOTHERFU--”

The same blankets that Gabe had been holding a moment ago were now tangling up Ricardo.

His ankle hurt. He was tangled up in bedsheets. He was starving.

And this rat-bastard traitor just got the drop on them.

Righteous anger filled Ricardo Dominguez at that moment and he fought to get free of the bedsheets. As soon as he did, there wouldn’t be anymore words. No more negotiations. No mercy for old times’ sake.

Goryo climbed back to his feet and was off after the other man without a second thought. Gabe made it through the door to the study first, and the door slammed shut just as Goryo reached it. He hardly paused, but rocked back on one foot in order to drive the heel of his other foot into the door just beside the knob. Though the kick audibly challenged the door's constitution, it took a second one to break the latch and send it flying open. Goryo disappeared into the room beyond, not even noticing at first that Ricardo wasn't right behind him. The study door swung gently closed again, slightly muffling the sounds of what followed. There was a significant crash, something thrown that took out a display cabinet. Growled curses, commands, retorts. The meaty thunks of a physical altercation. Then, quite suddenly, the study's door would fly open once more as Gabe came sailing through it. He hit the ground hard, and for a second seemed to have the wind knocked out of him.

Goryo came through the busted study door afterwards, his pace unhurried and his mien a dark one. He was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt as he moved, his eyes on the man who was slowly pushing himself up onto his hands. Gabe wiped his bloodied mouth with the back of one hand, and when he lifted his eyes it was Ricardo before him, Goryo behind him.

"You want this or not, Ricardo?" Goryo boomed, his eyes shifting to the accountant with a burning sincerity.

"You're being played, Dominguez," Gabe said, lifting a hand as though begging a pause. "This isn't right. You know this isn't right. THINK about this. If the old man wanted me out you think this is how he'd do it?!"

Goryo’s efficient as a fighter was scary. Ricardo reminded himself to take some lessons after tonight in case he ever had to defend himself on a lark. He walked over to where the pair stood, his steps ginger from bashing his ankle against the fucking nightstand. Gabe was running his mouth, but Ricardo wasn’t listening anymore. Gabe had pissed him off for a long, long time before now. Taking his accounts. Assigning him shit-work because he asked questions. Promoting other people over him despite his work history in the organization.

Goryo had finally given him the opportunity to do something he’d wanted to do for the last fifty years.

Ricardo drew back and kicked Gabe square in the face. Gabe’s head snapped back, stunned, but Ricardo didn’t bother saying something snarky or cute. No more words.

He just leaped on top of Gabe and started throwing haymakers.

It might have been four punches. Might have been six. When Gabe finally stopped trying to fight back and just covered up, Ricardo reached down and grabbed his right hand, pinning it to the floor. He pulled the Capital ring off of Gabe’s finger. Then he stood up, looked down on Gabe, and kicked him square in the ribs for good measure.

His ankle was sore and his chest was heaving. He hadn’t worked this hard, physically, since the farm. Papa would be ashamed of him right now, in more ways than one. Ricardo put that thought out of his mind for now, though he knew it would come back to haunt him later on, when he replayed tonight in his mind. He turned toward Goryo.

“When the family gives to you, you give back to the family.” Ricardo said, getting his breathing under his control.

Goryo watched, stone-faced, while Ricardo pummeled the prostrated man. His expression was dark, still, when the other man finished his assault and reasserted his loyalty to the family. Goryo nodded, head bobbing a couple of soft times, then stepped past Ricardo with a clap of one hand to the other man's shoulder.

"Stay here a minute. Watch him."

Goryo then left the room, leaving Ricardo alone with the bloodied former Capitol Captain. In the hallway, the bruiser's basso voice could be heard speaking to someone, though not clearly enough to determine what was being said. After a few minutes of conversation, Gregorio and the older guard who'd been at the bedroom door came back inside.

"'cardo, this is Fernando de la Cruz, he runs this place. Your place, now. He's gonna stay on to help you transition in, if you want him to. You can find your own man, if you'd rather. He served Gabe for alotta years, but he's loyal to the family over this prick," he said, jutting his chin towards the downed man. "Send some boys tomorrow to get your things. You stay here now. You wanna set up shop some other place that's fine, but you should establish yourself here first. Tradition, an' all that," he said, waving a hand dismissively. It wasn't like it'd be a burden, he figured. Gabe's place was a fucking mansion compared to what most people in these parts had. Nando watched Ricardo with dark, grave eyes. He looked like the sort of fellow who'd seen some shit in his day, and who'd weathered it all without cracking. There was no visible malice in him, though this clearly hadn't been an enjoyable evening for him.

"Go on, Nando, take him out," Goryo said, nodding to the older man. Nando reached down and took hold of both of Gabe's wrists. There were no protests, as the bloodied man had passed out at some point. It made for a quiet moment while his former head of household dragged him from his room. If Ricardo had any interest in knowing what would happen to Gabe from there, he'd have to make a point of asking.

"I'll get you in front of the old man in a day or two," Goryo said, turning to walk towards the door. A streak of blood pointed the way towards the hall, though Goryo avoided stepping in it while we went. He gestured for Ricardo to walk with him, and if Ricardo complied, Goryo would lead him down the hall and back to the foyer before he stopped and turned to face him.

"Yeah?" he asked, clapping a hand to Ricardo's shoulder again. "Confirmations and oaths and all that stuff will come then. For now, just focus on getting your feet on the ground here and making sense out of Gabe's books. The staff here will help you, long as you want 'em. Alright? Alright. Congratulations, Captain."

Beating Gabe’s ass was cathartic. Ricardo didn’t let loose enough and it was evident in how he relished kicking the shit out of his former superior. When Goryo called him off, clapping him on the shoulder, Ricardo stopped hitting the man, but he didn’t retreat right away. Seconds ticked by as he struggled to rein in his need to keep kicking the sonofabitch while he was down. Goryo told Ricardo to watch him, so the accountant stepped back and forced himself to relax and catch his breath.

His hands hurt. His lungs burned. He needed to exercise more. He’d start that tomorrow morning.

Goryo came back with Fernando de la Cruz, the guard that they’d passed on the way in. His guard, now. Goryo said he was loyal, so Ricardo believed him. Ricardo reached out and shook Fernando’s hand. "Good to meet you, man." His head turned in Goryo’s direction, though, when the man said that this was Ricardo’s place now. This house was massive, bigger than any house ever lived in. Five things to change crossed his mind immediately. Ricardo hated advertising his net worth or how much money he handled. The less anyone knew about how much pull the Syndicate truly possessed, the better.

But he had to know the real answers and that meant going through every account with a fine tooth comb. No more skimming. No more wasted expenses. He watched Nando drag Gabe out of the room and out of the house. Damned shame, how people put themselves before the family. Goryo was right about that.

“I’ll be ready when the time comes to meet the old man. I’ll work on Gabe’s books in the meantime and let you know what I find.” Ricardo said. He sensed a lot of nights ahead where sleep would be a precious commodity. Maybe he could talk a beautiful woman into spending a couple of those nights with him in exchange for good food and some pillow talk. He wondered if that Calista woman’s nephew still needed a job…

“Thanks, Captain. We’ll get everyone in order here. Meantime...what happens to Gabe? Does he get his retirement? Or should I make sure I keep this place bolted up tight in case he gets another bad idea?”

Goryo hadn't done a thing to stop Ricardo, in fact. If the younger man had beat the downed man entirely to death there was no guarantee that Goryo would have stopped him even then. The big man was slow to anger but his fury, when roused, was a righteous, merciless thing. Whatever sins Gabe had committed in his eyes, they were not transgressions that would soon be forgotten, if they ever were.

Nando didn't respond to Ricardo's greeting aloud, though he did look down at the offered hand and then extend his own to shake it. He nodded his greeting, but was a man of few words even in less grim situations. His grip was firm but not challenging; everything about him said he had no reason to doubt or need to prove his own strength and capability, even with his graying hair.

When Gabe was hauled off and Ricardo and Goryo stood in the foyer, Goryo nodded while Ricardo made promises. He started to take his leave, but stopped and turned back to regard the other man when Ricardo asked about Gabe's fate. Goryo snorted softly and shook his head.

"Nah. Gabe doesn't get shit. You cross your brothers, you pay the price. You bolt up however you want. He ain't the only one with bad ideas out there, you feel me?" He raised a brow, a quiet warning there for Ricardo to watch his back. "Use the people here. They'll help you," he advised the new Captain again, then turned to continue on his way out.

"We're gonna do good things, Ricardo," he called out, not turning to look back.

Ricardo was feeling better already. His leg still hurt a little, but that was nothing when measure against the power he now wielded. He was the Captain of the Capital, the money-man for the Syndicate. He could help his people in all the ways he’d always wanted, but never could. He knew that he wouldn’t get to sleep tonight. There was too much shit to do, to many changes to make.

Goryo told Ricardo what would happen to Gabe and that former farmer took that to heart. He had no plans to cross his brothers or screw up anything, especially since he didn’t want Goryo and some other guy visiting him in the near future to relocate him. That started by doing his job and continuing to get shit done. He’d have to figure out what was going on with Amore de Medina. Her ledger would be the first one balanced.

“Will do, Goryo. I’m looking forward to it. And to meeting your people!” Ricardo said, to the man’s retreating form. Once Goryo was gone, a couple of other guys walked up to introduce themselves. Ricardo shook some hands, but decided that the mood was too dour and formal in here tonight. It was a little late, but he was hungry and a good meal always brought people together.

“Where’s the kitchen in this place? I’m starving.” Ricardo said. One of the guys lead him to a fully stocked kitchen in west wing of the mansion. Shopping had just been done, meaning that Ricardo had a lot to work with. He had all night to balance accounts and figure out where all the Syndicate’s money was at this point.